ipad or Lens?

dantewaters

dantewaters

Well-known member
Looking to make a purchase for my business and wondering what would be best.

Either an ipad for marketing (to show clients the work make presentations etc)

or

The Canon 135mm L since all i have right now is the 50mm and I usually rent lenses when I need them.
 
It depends on your set up already. If you have lenses covering the 135mm or near and don't have a way of showing clients your work then the Ipad but if you already have a way of showing your clients I would get the lens any day of the week.
 
As with any business purchase, you have to ask yourself what will bring the greatest return on your investment and what is your greatest need.

Is your need sales, how are you doing sales calls now? How much are you spending on lens rentals? How long will it take to make your money back from buying vs renting? Somehow, I don't see the 135L as being a frequently used video lens, but your needs might be different.

Personally, I don't think either choice is a good choice at this point.
 
*Scratches Head



Canon 135mm lens price is over a $1000

iPad 2 cost $499


Yeah, this thread makes no sense to me.......
 
Kin Lau said:
As with any business purchase, you have to ask yourself what will bring the greatest return on your investment and what is your greatest need.

Is your need sales, how are you doing sales calls now? How much are you spending on lens rentals? How long will it take to make your money back from buying vs renting? Somehow, I don't see the 135L as being a frequently used video lens, but your needs might be different.
Click to expand...

All very good questions here. I do have to go against the 135 not being a frequently used lens, though. We have the 70-200 here, and many times it'll sit on the 135 ticker for our interviews. But we do mostly talking heads / interviews / product shots.

BUT we don't know what kind of business this is. Wedding videos? Corporate videos? Sports videos? Fund-raising? Guerilla shooting in Morocco?

Kinda depends on that.
 
Buy whichever one would pay for itself quickest.

That's a good general rule of thumb for any business purchase.
 
It wasn't soo much of a price point item, but what we sat down and accssed and realize that the 2 would benefit the business.
This is for documentary, and commercial work (prints, ADs, lots of closeups) I have had a lot of use for the 135mm and it can help with marketing because all we have is a 50mm lens it's time we make some improvements.

Here is what I am thinking

iPad - A simple tool that can be carried around showing all the work we provide, also using it during presentations something we realize is necessary
for a business to grow (you have sit down and make assessments with clients from time to time). The cons are the speeds or bad if anything has to be done online
really would like a a 4G option and a 1080p retina display (we'll see if that comes next update).


135mm L - it is cheaper that than the 70-200 and insanely sharp, I believe any lens can achieve great work it all the depends on the shooter.
The 135 will give us cleaner images, sharper focus, better portraits, and be one less lens to rent come project time. I honestly see that within
a few months it will pay for itself 2x over. The cons is the cost, and the fact that it's really only designed for portraits so any other work will be difficult
to achieve (architecture / land scape etc...).

The question is which would have a greater advantage to you if you were shopping for both I am leaning towards the lens.
 
mcbob said:
Buy whichever one would pay for itself quickest.

That's a good general rule of thumb for any business purchase.
Click to expand...

Thank you sir and I feel that the lens would pay for itself sooner, no one really rents and iPad and I might have 10 presentations before someone decides to use our services. I can rent the 135mm out and i can use it for both video and photography.
 
why not buy an 85mm rokinon 1.4

I was doing some research and they are less than $300 and many people are happy with them.
 
A client doesnt choose you for owning an iPad. They'll choose you for what you can do with a camera. To me, a lens is a no-brainer.
 
dantewaters said:
It wasn't soo much of a price point item, but what we sat down and accssed and realize that the 2 would benefit the business.
This is for documentary, and commercial work (prints, ADs, lots of closeups) I have had a lot of use for the 135mm and it can help with marketing because all we have is a 50mm lens it's time we make some improvements.

Here is what I am thinking

iPad - A simple tool that can be carried around showing all the work we provide, also using it during presentations something we realize is necessary
for a business to grow (you have sit down and make assessments with clients from time to time). The cons are the speeds or bad if anything has to be done online
really would like a a 4G option and a 1080p retina display (we'll see if that comes next update).


135mm L - it is cheaper that than the 70-200 and insanely sharp, I believe any lens can achieve great work it all the depends on the shooter.
The 135 will give us cleaner images, sharper focus, better portraits, and be one less lens to rent come project time. I honestly see that within
a few months it will pay for itself 2x over. The cons is the cost, and the fact that it's really only designed for portraits so any other work will be difficult
to achieve (architecture / land scape etc...).
Click to expand...

I think you've made a pretty good business case for the 135L. If it will only take a couple of months to pay for itself, in 3 months, you'll have enough for the iPad also.
 
TimB said:
A client doesnt choose you for owning an iPad. They'll choose you for what you can do with a camera. To me, a lens is a no-brainer.
Click to expand...

Tim your right but I was saying that the client will have a have a way to see my work while I present vs. carrying my laptop everywhere which also is my sole machine for production would rather keep it home and tote the iPad. As the others are saying though the lens is better choice.
 
I've been through this whole "is an iPad worth it for business purposes or just something to fulfill my gadget lust?"

It's just to fulfill your gadget lust.
 
I use my iPad for... slate, prompter, weather info for shoots, calc for my skater dolly, camera aids like DOF, FOV lens conversion, audio record client meetings , controller for ProTools in booth, Talent releases, Keep pdf manuals for my cameras, internet access, email access, netflix, and I'm sure I'm forgetting a bunch. I think it's real handy to have around.

I also have a number lenses, including a 135mm.
It just doesn't get used as often as others.
 
If you're just going to use it to show your work to clients (i.e. play videos) then why not consider a budget android based tablet instead? There are some cheap ones that go for as little as $100. Or maybe even an HP touchpad — on ebay they go for less than half the price of an ipad and play HD video just fine.

Wouldn't saving on the tablet allow you to get both?
 
I was working on a shoot where all the locations people had their contracts on their iPads. They could be signed, sealed, and delivered (emailed) before you could even drive to the nearest fedex. That was pretty cool.
 
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